The Love They Never Had

"Your Majesty! When The Third Princess Consort heard about you were crossing borders to find the physician, she truly got so agitated that she said that she would rather let you die here in the palace than outside with the plague-infested bodies! Please, you have to stop her before she kills herself!" "And why should I stop her exactly? She will be answering both of our prayers if she really stormed into my quarters to find my sword to kill herself with." "It is because she is the only one win any knowledge of the plague! Despite her faults, she has successfully kept it out of the palace! There hasn't been a single death reported as of yet…" "Say it? What exactly do you want, wife?"

"Husband! Are you even human at all! I am only worried about you, and you show no concern at all!" "You are worried about me every time I fall asleep without you, how is this any different?" "Worried? Is that the excuse that you are still using shamelessly now? No, what you are truly worried about is you becoming a penniless widow if anything should happen to me at all; and the fame and wealth that you have now will disappear along with myself." "Is that really what you think!" "DO HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I AM UP AGAINST BY MYSELF! On top of this plague! Every province is in deficit! Taxes are always deferred! Pepe are dying left, right and centre without discrimination of who they are and what social statuses and wealth that they posses! And every province is indebted by millions! The people are suffering, your physicians are dead, the money is missing and your dowries are even missing after redecorating your quarters and wasting all of that money! If you didn't cause me so much trouble and turn us all into laughing stocks, I would not have become so isolated in The Imperial Court! Even that half-breed bastard is accomplishing more achievements than I have since our marriage!"

"Husband…" "And your so-called old money family is fishing themselves off, so I cannot even rely on their help! They were ever only looking out for themselves! What have I truly gained from marrying you, other than to clean up the messes that you make!" "You…are you saying that you only married me for my family's support? After my sister…that is why you decided to go ahead with it?" "Why else would I have married you? Didn't you all just want my wealth and power in return? That is the only reason why every single woman treats me with respect and deference!" "No…it isn't true…we are husband and wife…" "all marriages are based on an exchange of personal advantages! A man has to be in control of his family and care for them all! A wife needs a husband to bring her social and financial security and as for us, your family support was all that I ever needed! Ans as for you! You long demonstrated your ambitions of becoming these next Empress! So let us finally be honest with each other and stop pretending that we are in love! It is simply too nauseating of an act to keep up with!" "This isn't an act! I do love you! Husband! Fine! If you will not believe me, I will just end your life right here and now, and I will see how you can even leave the premises!"

"For goodness sake, put the sword down before you chip a nail or something!" "Husband! Do not go overboard! I am doing everything just for you!" "Is it really for me, or for yourself? You should know it well!" "If you want to die, then just leave! You must let me go!" "With pleasure; but let me make this clear to you that you are to be confined in your quarters until my return! Everything you have done has erased my last bit of patience for you, I couldn't even celebrate the fact that my concubine is pregnancy because of you! So just stay obediently in your room, because I will cut off each leg of yours that dares to defy my orders!"

"Have you lost your mind! How dare you insult your only supporter!" "You had better pray for my return, because if I die out there, you will have not a single supporter that will want to keep you here in this palace!"

And just like that, he left without saying anything at all in my quarters that were still damaged from last night since I no longer had the heart to put any effort into keeping up appearances anymore. "You think that I do not have a backer here, but Seon-Ho, your enemy, will keep me here as long as possible. I might even take him in as my own lover to keep me company whilst you run off to save your father's kingdom. And he didn't even have the breakfast that I mad especially just for him." "Your Highness/? Did you say anything?" "Forget it, let us start clearing away all of the mess that my husband made." "Your Highness, why d you still fight for him? You are a Highland noble person that still cooks all of her husband's meals by hand; you especially burn mugwort leaves to repel mosquitoes and other bugs, and you personally sew everything for him, including his clothes…" "Enough! Give me my morning report." "Your Highness, it was brought to my attention that The Third Prince spent last night with the attendant that suffered from a miscarriage recently…" "He hasn't entered the harem for days now, so why visit that bitch! She had that accident a month ago, who can remember who she is now? Withdraw her name tag immediately so that she can get a proper break from her…unfortunate incident. And where is Concubine Park for her morning greetings? She must do this, no matter how fragile she is. Summon her here to me in ropes if you have to! And look into the Minister's incident as quickly as you can! Go! Do it now!"

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"Master! Why have you tied me up! In the middle of a plague! What have I ever done to offend you! I already told you everything about the eunuch scams and this is how you repay me! I hope that you do not think that you can go against the law, you half-breed bastard! Just because you have rendered some small accomplishments! I will not let you go for this! But send for a physician first! I am in serious pain after you have tied me up to my own door since dawn now!" "If you feel bad, why not ask your daughter what she did to put you in this position in the first place to cause your family such shame!" It really wasn't like me to deal with my enemies in public like this, but these ministers were on a different level since they were all just recently bestowed their public offices and they were all still hung over from their nightly celebrations. These corrupt men needed to experience public humiliation so that they could never even think about regaining their titles or asking the palace for help ever again.

"I was only following the orders of The Third Princess Consort and her sister to poke fun at the girl in the brothel, that was all!" "Did 'poking fun' also mean releasing snakes into her sleeping bag? Pushing her into the river? Paying the servants to dump mould in her food? Stripping her bare of her clothes over and over again? Well? Tell me what else you did to my fiancé!" "Master! It was just a joke between girls! You do not have to cause such trouble at the Censorate like this for a disabled orphan girl! For such a trifle matter! Do you not fear the law!" "Why? I am only joking around as well, since you consider things like this to be a joke. And it isn't me that you should fear, but The Third Prince's right-hand man Seo Hwi, the son of Seo Geom! He is on a mission to depose his wife as soon was the plague is over and then where shall you receive your support from? Because I can assure you that he will also rid himself of everything that is related to his wife after the deposition, especially since he holds the Seo's so dearly in his heart."

Watching these cowards face the realisation of their actions did give me some degree of satisfaction, but nothing could ever erase the panic attack that Yeon had even when she was left alone with me. She wasn't a weak person at all and nothing that she had been through in the past could shake her calm and cool composure. But when I saw how badly she was shaking, it was like she almost had an epileptic fit all over again, and that was the one memory of her that we were all dying to forget.

"…you must not think that you can just do whatever you want because of your power, Master! This is the Censorate and I am the newly-appointed Place Aid to the Censor-in-Chief! My duty is to submit memorials admonishing monarchs and officials! If you dare to humiliate us any further, I shall have you impeached!" "Fret not, I am already having everything recorded for The Emperor himself to review and make judgment of. Because everyone in the palace is seen as one body, we should all take extra care to discipline our children so that these familial matters do not come to light and obstruct our abilities to complete our work, right?" And not just family matters, but there are clear cases of bribery, rape….and even murder." "Murder! What are you talking about! I haven't murdered anyone!" "So why have we been handed a witness statement by a servant from The Third Princess Consort's residence, saying that in order for your requests to be approved by her, you murdered the physician that her husband is currently searching for to put an end to the plague!" I didn't let them get a single word in edgewise as over 20 men were shamelessly arrested right in front of their families who couldn't stop wailing and pleading for mercy. But there wasn't a single innocent person in my eyes, and everyone was going to pay for the crimes that have committed against me since birth and to my fiancé since I chose a stupid war over her.

"What is next on the agenda, Young Master?" "Did you find her? Is she were I think she is?" "Unfortunately…" "Very well, it will keep her out of trouble this time and actually help me out to bring her home to he brother sooner. Send her servant over to her with some work that I have for her to do, whilst we wrap up my so-called brothers investigation." "How are you so sure that she will comply?" "Because I always know how to make her comply with my orders. Bring me paper, brush and an ink stone, I shall add another letter to her for good measure."